Chapter Text
The sun was high in the sky, with not a single cloud in sight. The wind wasn’t too harsh, either. The perfect weather for Skylander Academy’s grand opening. Plus, the annual Soda Festival was being held at the nearby Soda Springs, so soda was the main drink for the occasion. Many citizens from all over came to celebrate, the majority making up the crowd being Mabu. Elves, Faun, Foxes, and several species that Cat couldn’t properly tell made up the remaining portion of the crowd. Tucker was perched on her shoulder, since she didn’t want to lose him in the crowd. If she were to be honest, she was a little on edge in crowds sometimes.
A part of Cat was glad she wasn’t as widely known as many of the Skylanders. If she was, she was sure she would be swarmed by fans asking for autographs. Of course, she still got fans anyways, but not nearly as many as everyone else.
Before the grand opening was announced, the Skylanders had received some new members. Since Cat was busy during that time, she never got to meet them personally. However, today would be the perfect opportunity to meet one or two of the new recruits before the ceremony started.
Cat looked around for one of them, but could only spot some familiar ones. Spyro and Cynder were talking with Hugo and Cali. The Minis, miniature versions of some of the Skylanders, were playing in the area where Persephone resided. The Minis appeared one day when a magic spell went in a direction no one intended, and it cloned some of the Skylanders, though smaller than the original counterparts.
She felt Tucker start to move, and she paused, allowing the little Drow to climb on top of her head.
“See anyone, Tucks?” she asked. She was careful enough not to make any sudden movements that would dislodge him and cause him to fall. There was a couple seconds of silence from Tucker, before he pointed to her left, “Over there! That’s High Five!” Cat glanced in the direction he pointed, spotting the High Five.
He was a hybrid of a dragon and a dragonfly, and he donned what looked to be racing gear. He was hovering a ways away from the crowd, looking around as if he were a little anxious. She looked up at Tucker, “Sounds like you know him.”
He hopped off of her head and landed on the ground, “Yeah! And he’s really cool!” Then, he paused, speaking in a lowered voice.
“Well, he’s not as cool as you, but still!”
With that, he rushed off in the direction of High Five with Cat following closely behind him. Thankfully, the crowd shifted to let them pass, and she silently let out a sigh of relief when they exited it. At that moment, High Five spotted them, and he seemed to relax a little. “Hi, Tucker,” he greeted. “Who’s this?”
She held her hand out and smiled, “I’m Cat, one of the part-timers.” He looked at her hand before grabbing it with his own, “High Five, at your service.” He landed on the ground, “So, where’d you come from?”
Cat hesitated. Her past wasn’t really something she talked about freely. But, she could try to answer the best she could. Hopefully without revealing the horrors she had experienced.
“Well,” she started, taking a deep breath. “I’m not really from Skylands. More like, outside of it, to be exact.” High Five seemed to be intrigued by this. “That’s actually pretty cool. Mind telling me what it was like?”
Again, she hesitated. She had to leave out a lot of details. “Eh, I took part in a three year war because I wanted to help people. When it was over, my family moved to Skylands. I guess the urge to help others stayed, so I joined the Skylanders.”
Not the full truth, but only a small piece of it.
“I see. Well, I’m one of the most skilled racers among the dragonflies. There was a race a few weeks ago, but because I was the fifth son, I couldn’t join. But I learned that the Troll Racing Team stole the Trophy of Sparx, which is said to contain some sort of magic. So, I jumped into the race and stopped them. Of course, I was given the trophy as a reward for my heroics, then Eon came to me and asked me to join the Skylanders.”
“Well, you did a good thing that day. It’s one less group of baddies trying to take over Skylands, however long it lasts.”
She could see a familiar spark in his eyes. He was young, but he sounded confident in himself. Something that was like a double-edged sword. She would know, since she had experienced it firsthand.
“Wonder if we’ll ever have to fight some big evil or something. It’d be cool, especially with Portal Masters on our side.”
She looked to the sky. The Skylanders did have two more Portal Masters other than Eon. The Portal Masters were responsible for bringing several missing Skylanders back when they went missing. The location they resided on was called Earth. However, it appeared to be a different Earth than the one she knew of. The other Skylanders mentioned that they were called upon when Skylands was in trouble, and that they had a form of telepathy. Warning Skylanders of potential ambushes, showing them paths to treasure, and much more. Cat had never heard the Portal Masters speak, so she assumed that Skylands wasn’t in trouble.
“You alright?”
Her current train of thought was broken when he spoke. She looked back and nodded, “Just thinking.”
When they heard the crowd becoming excited, the three of them took that as a sign that the ceremony was starting. “Hope it’s a good one,” she heard High Five say as he zoomed past her. “Nice meeting you!”
She smiled, “Was nice meeting you as well!”
Cat turned to Tucker, and he climbed back onto her shoulder. Together, they made their way back into the crowd so they wouldn’t miss anything. She spotted Ganondorf sitting on a bench, which wasn’t too hard to miss, since he was taller than literally everyone except the Giants. Hugo, Cali, and Flynn were close by.
“Mind if we sit here?” she asked. He glanced over, then shook his head, scooting over so there was room for them, “So, where did you two run off to?”
Tucker shot up excitedly, “We were chatting with High Five!”
The Gerudo chuckled softly, “You did? That’s great to hear.” Cat got comfortable on the bench, “He reminded me of myself, back when during the first year of the Clone Wars.”
“Young and confident?”
“Mhm. Maybe a little experienced. But, with training, he will be a good Skylander.”
“You’re starting to sound like your father.”
“What can I say? He was my general back then.”
When they saw a familiar looking Mabu veteran walking up to the front of the building, the conversation was quickly stopped. Buzz looked around at the audience, waiting for the cheering to die down a little. When it did, he spoke proudly;
“As head of security- and secret ninja commando operations,” he coughed once after saying operations. “Let me welcome you to the grand opening of Skylander Academy.”
The crowd cheered again, a little louder than before.
And for some reason, she had the sense that someone else was there with them in spirit, watching the events unfold.
She noticed that Hugo was talking with Cali and Flynn while Buzz told one of his stories, which she lost focus on.
“This is great, Cali! I mean, a new Skylanders headquarters? There hasn’t been one in ages!” he exclaimed in an almost joyous tone. Cali herself seemed to be on the same page, “I know, Hugo. And Buzz is the most legendary Skylander trainer ever!” She paused, “There’s something familiar about him-”
Flynn interrupted, “Yeah, I know what you mean. I’ve seen his kind before. Big showoff.”
Speak for yourself. Cat said silently, though she had to admire Flynn a little. He still flew the Skylanders to mission locations, even if it meant risking his hide. Flynn rolled his eyes as Buzz continued his little story, “Sheesh, and he’s still talking!”
Buzz pulled out a sword from his belt, “With the opening of the new Skylander Academy, may it usher a new era of safety, security, and…”
At that moment, her cybernetic ears registered something falling from the sky. She barely had time to register what it was when something blue streaked by, crashing somewhere in Soda Springs. A flash of light emitted for a few seconds, followed by the sound of a sort of explosion. The three of them bolted up from the bench when the crowd nearly panicked.
Buzz exclaimed, “Holy guacamole! That thing landed smack dab in the middle of our Annual Soda Festival! Stay put, folks, while the Skylanders and I check it out.”
Cat glanced at Ganondorf, “Well, today got a little more interesting to say the least.” He nodded in agreement, but they both quickly turned to Tucker when they noticed he started shaking.
“Is that bad?” he asked, almost fearful. Cat turned to Buzz, who was walking down the steps towards them.
“Cat, Ganondorf! You two are with me.”
She looked back at Tucker, “Looks like it might be, Tucker.” Tucker slid off her shoulder and onto the ground, “What about me?” Buzz shook his head, “You can stay here with the others. Might be a little too dangerous for you.”
His ears fell down and a sad look decorated Tucker’s face. Cat patted his head gently, “Don’t worry, buddy. We’ll be alright.” She knew that Tucker didn’t like the idea of being separated for too long, and countless times, she had to reassure him that everything would be alright. Not that she didn’t mind, he was still a kid.
The Drow lightened up, before holding his arms out for a hug. She accepted it, and then Tucker ran off towards the Minis, who weren’t experienced enough to deal with these kinds of things yet. Soon, they would be fighting alongside the Skylanders, though.
She turned to the group she would be a part of; Spyro, Cynder, High Five, Ganondorf, and Buzz.
“Well, shall we get started?”
“Good morning, brother! Breakfast is on the table!”
Wayne groaned as his sister, Elle’s, cheerful voice woke him up. Sitting up, he checked the clock, which read 9:30 AM.
Huh. Must’ve overslept.
It would probably be the same time in Skylands, since for some reason, Earth and Skylands were connected. Or, at least him and his sister were.
They had moved out of their parents’ house years ago, and had remained together when the Skylanders first appeared to them. Ever since the portal showed up in the living room, along with some of the Skylanders scattered here and there, they had been helping the Skylanders push back the evil known as Kaos, stopping him from taking over Skylands.
Wayne decided not to change out of his pajamas. It had been awhile since they were needed, so what was the point? He could stay cozy for an hour or so longer. He got out of his bed and stretched before he made his way out of his room and down the stairs. The smell of coffee and scrambled eggs filled the room, and when he entered, his plate was on the table, just as his sister had said.
He decided he would check on the portal first before eating. He grabbed the cup of coffee in one hand, and carried it down the hall, taking careful sips occasionally. The trip wasn’t that long, and eventually, he reached the portal room. As he entered, he took note of what was in the room.
Faint glowing, some random crystals, the portal now has a crystalline structure-
He took a sip of his coffee, but then, realization hit him, and he spat it out.
“Elle! What the heck happened to the portal?!”
Wayne heard her walking down the hallway, and soon, she came into view through the doorway. “Oh, I forgot to tell you about that. Long story short, I believe Skylands is in danger again, and we’re being called upon. Again.”
He sighed, then took a glimpse at what was on the ground near the portal. The crystals, as he had seen earlier, were of different colors and shapes, with each one having symbols etched into them. He recognized most of the symbols for each of the elements.
A droplet to represent the Water element.
Three leaves for the Life element.
Flames for Fire.
A swirl standing for the Air element.
A star for Magic.
Gear for Tech.
A mountain for earth.
A skull for Undead.
The last two, a moon and a sun, left him a little puzzled. These were new, since they were not present the last three times they’ve helped Skylands. Perhaps they were newly discovered?
The rest of the objects were a handful of Skylanders. Eighteen to be exact. Upon closer inspection, these Skyanders appeared to have weapons made of some sort of crystal. Elle left for a few seconds, then brought him his plate of eggs, “You still haven’t had breakfast. Can’t fight on an empty stomach.” Wayne nodded, taking the plate, and he began to eat as fast as he could.
Meanwhile, Elle went ahead and grabbed the Skylanders and placed them on the portal. “Whatever happened, we can help fix it. Don’t worry.”
Thanks, Portal Masters.
The voice seemed to come from the golden lion, who held a ruby shield.
“One more thing,” Wayne asked after he finished a bite, “What are these two elements, and what are these crystals?” He held up the crystal in question, along with the two unknown elements.
Well, two new elements have been discovered; Light and Dark. The Dark element has no connection to the Darkness, don’t worry. And those crystals are called Traptanium, used for trapping villains.
You see, we’re Trap Masters. We were guarding a prison called Cloudcracker Prison. One notorious group of villains called the Doom Raiders were being held there. Then, out of nowhere, the whole prison exploded, releasing them, and trapping us here temporarily. We assume the remains of Cloudcracker Prison that made it here were turned into traps.
“Ah, that makes sense,” he replied, eyeing a trap that was shaped like the villain who seemed to constantly endanger Skylands.
“Oh cool, looks like a certain someone has a trap entirely dedicated to him.”
He picked it up, then showed it to Elle. She narrowed her eyes, “Something tells me we’ll have to trap him.” They looked back at the portal as the Trap Masters were waiting to be sent back. There were no visible spots to place the crystals, other than on the portal itself.
You can set the Traps on the portal, Portal Masters. We can handle the rest once we arrive in Skylands.
Elle nodded to Wayne, and he grabbed every Trap he could find, then placed them on the portal. At least the portal was just big enough to fit everything without everything piling up. Once that was done, a cloud-like vision appeared above the portal, showing them what was going on.
“Looks like some sort of celebration,” Wayne noted as he saw a crowd of Mabu, Elves, Faun, and Foxes. He could recognize several Skylanders among the crowd, and he guessed that the rest were probably busy. The two spotted a few unfamiliar faces as well. A human with cybernetics that made her look like a cat, a taller dark-skinned human wielding a greatsword, and a small Drow hybrid were all sitting on one bench.
“New Skylanders, probably,” Elle whispered. They saw a Mabu walking up to the front of the building, clearing his throat.
“Hey, isn’t that Buzz?”
“Yeah. We’ve been keeping touch with each other after the whole fiasco with Cloudbreak’s volcano.”
“Oh yeah, I remember that.”
They kept watching, even giggling a little when Flynn complained about Buzz being showoff, since they both knew Flynn was the same way. When Buzz went to cut the ribbon for the new Skylander Academy, they saw the streak of blue fly by and crash on the nearby island, interrupting the ceremony.
That was one of the Doom Raiders.
The two Portal Masters steeled themselves with determination, then nodded to each other.
“Let’s get this show on the road.”
With a flash of light, the Trap Team and the Traps vanished back to Skylands.
It was time to save Skylands again.